Wichita eagle., 1887-05-26

Find Little to Cenoufo-Tho Monarch
Of tho Ring - Mild lIannsred - i Jer-
sey Mich Cow.
There are to be no more bull fights. The
government forbids them. But why7 /
can't imagine, and haven't been able to
find any one who can tell The petition
for q renewal of the sport was signed by
NJ. Clemenceau and NJ. Paul de Cassagnac
and q great host of public men. But
President Grevy said no, and no it is.
Certainly the objection cannot be on the
score of cruelty. Nothing could be more
amiss. went to the opening perform
ance, and certainly more innocent show
I NJ yer saw. There were to be, we were
told, real Spanish bulls and real Spanish
bull fighters, and it was to be altogether
Q real Spanish bull fight. Alas, for Spaini
The hippodrome was crowded. One-haf
the spectators were ladies. Wealth and
beauty and fashion and aristocracy were
there in great force. The arena was ar
ranged in orthodox fashion. The ground
was covered with white sand. The posts
were draped with crimson cloth. There
was q close board fence six feet high all
around the outside, separating the arena
from the front row of spectators by
space six or seven feet wide, into which
the bull fighters could leap for safety
when hard pressed by the ferocious beasts.
Thu: {. things were ready. The fight
ing men I4arched in, made the circuit OF
the arena and saluted the audience. Then
there was q blare of trumpets, and the
gate of the bull pen was thrown open.
Our hearts stood still for moment with
expectation. We looked to see q huge
monarch of the plains rush in, with red
trimmed eyes and frOthy muzzle, eager and
furious for the fray. But no! For space
none came Then there appeared a dimin-
utive bull, surely not more than years
old, and small for that age. He came il
reluctantly, and we could see the tips Of
several goads behind him, urging him for
wardl
SORELY BEwILDERED.
He entered the arena with q sorely be-
wildered and frightened air, and slowly
walked forward to one of the red draped
posts Against this he began rubbing his
head and neck as cattle do against the
trees in their pastures. His horns, l no
ticed, were small, and on the tip of each
was fastened, for safety's sake, metal
ball as big as a door knob! Presently he
turned and walked toward one Of the
men, who quickly ran away. The bull
looked after him as if puzzled, and then
turned toward another. The second man
stood his ground until the bull was close
to him, and then, after the manner of a
circus acrobat, jumped over the animals
back. The bull presently entered into the
spirit of the fun, and trotted briskly about
from one man to the other, giving each a
chance to jump over him. Then he went
up to the board fence, and, as it was a
fimsy structure, soon pOked hole in it
and jumped through. There were several
men in the safety ring, and when they
saw the bull jump in they jumped out in
a hurry, and the bull trOtted lesurely
around until he came to a gate, which
some one had opened, and then he went
back into the arena.
This operation was gone through twice.
Then the men got a lot of red, white and
blue rOsettes, stuck them to his sides with
daubs of glue, and led him away in
triumph This was all there was to the
performance, the Same play being re-
peated over and over again with new
bulls. There was nothing even approx
mating to danger, and there was nothing
half as exciting as the average riding in
circus. High prices were paid for ad-
mission to the first show under the idea
that there would be something very ex-
citing, but almost every one was disap-
pointed, and if the government had not
forbidden any more flights | doubt if
they would have secured paying patron
age.-Paris Cor. Chicago Tribune.